In
fact, businesses will be allowed to file their VAT returns over the phone where
they can satisfy the department that it is not reasonably practical for them to
file electronically.

But
if reasons such as age, disability or remoteness of location also make it
impractical for the taxpayer to file by telephone, they will be permitted to
file their VAT return on paper.

HMRC
adds that any business aggrieved by the department’s decision, if for example
its officials refuse the taxpayer to file on paper or over the phone, will have
a right of appeal.

Anthony
Thomas, of the Low Incomes Tax Reforms Group, which supported the traders whose
rights were infringed, said the changes meant two years of hard work had paid
off.

“Until
now, online returns have been mandatory unless the taxpayer is a practising
member of a religious society…or a business in insolvency,” he reflected.

“[But]
that requirement breached the human rights of those who were unable to file
online because they were computer illiterate due to age, or had a disability
that made using a computer accurately very difficult or painful, or they lived
too remotely for a reliable internet connection.”

He
added that while it was “regrettable” that the businesses owners, their
advisers and taxpayers as a whole have had to wait so long for an outcome, it is
“sensible and rational” one.